HealthyGamerGG - Meditation QnA

Episode Date: January 4, 2020

DrK answers some community questions about meditation, demonstrating the Third-Eye technique and how procrastination relates. Watch the video on our YouTube page (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhfQoFZHNns) and catch Dr.K live on Twitch (https://www.twitch.tv/healthygamer_gg) - Wednesdays & Fridays at 3PM EST and Sundays at 6PM EST. Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/healthygamergg/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The strategy is not to let go of expectations. The strategy is to make it impossible to have an expectation. And the way that you make it impossible to have an expectation is to live in the present, to exist in the present, to focus on action instead of outcome. What are your thoughts on NOFAP? Does Hindus promote that? Any health or mental benefits? I mean, look, so I think that there was a question about Brahmacharya.

So we'll, I'll get to NOFAP. In a second. Okay. Let's switch to meditation. Okay. After passively meditating is a lifestyle for a long time. Is it normal to feel the inside of your brain? The spot that is close to the reptilian complex, also a sense of oneness and high intellect? After passively meditating is a lifestyle for a long time, is it normal to feel the inside of your brain? Also a sense of oneness and high intellect? The short answer is sort of. it is completely normal after meditating properly for years to feel things that other humans or you yourself have not ever felt before and to also have a persistent sensation of those things. So I have some sensations which if you guys have seen like, okay, we're going to just do this.

We're going to do the third eye meditation. All right. So we're going to do some meditation. So, you know, in the spirit of like Gork's interview and sort of emphasizing experience, in order to answer this question, because I imagine that many people don't understand what the fuck this person is talking about. Let's just do a meditation and see what happens. So I want you all to sit up straight and do this. Okay. And I want you to sit up straight and then hover your middle finger just like.

a centimeter from your forehead. And close your eyes. Don't touch. Just focus on the sensation of your forehead. Just see what you feel as you hold your finger there. Not touching. Not too far away. You can move it a little bit closer, a little bit further.

Once you feel something, maybe you'll know. Then what I want you to do is relax. Let your hands come down. And just focus on that spot. your forehead. Continue focusing on the spot between your eyebrows. See if there are any lingering sensations. Okay. So go ahead and come back. So tell me, guys, what did you all feel? Yeah, man. So this is like, this is what's fucking, so, like, this is the thing you guys got to understand. When I went to India, right? So I was like failing out of college and all this good stuff.

When I went to India, it was this stuff that made me fall in love with meditation. Right? Like, what is that? Like, what the fuck just happened? Like, what the fuck is that? Like, when Gork breathes and feels warmth in his shoulders, like, what is that? Like, what's going on here? And if you guys didn't feel anything, that's perfectly fine. So, different, different feelings, different meditation techniques are going to work for different people. Right? So, like, this is why we have different kinds of meditation techniques. because not all minds are the same, not all people are the same. So different techniques are going to work for different people in different ways.

And if you guys felt something like, what does that mean? Like, is that the third eye? Like, I don't know. Like, I don't know. I mean, I have ideas about what it is. I have beliefs about what it is. But there's no scientific evidence for something being the third eye. Like, there's no such thing as the third eye.

Right? So this is what I would tell you. This is what we know about the science of meditation. there is stuff about what that is. And if you guys really want to know what that is, we can talk about it. But, um,

I'm not trying to fix this. Yeah, right? So, but you guys feel something. So this is important. So you guys have to like think about how did someone discover this concept of the third eye?

Was someone like sitting down? Like there was a yogi like thousands of years ago and he's like, you know what? I'm going to come up with like this fucking anime level concept of something called the third eye. And then like all these e-mailed. kids in high school are going to watch it and think that they're badass. And then that's going to be the third eye. No. That's not how it works, right? So what happens is people meditate and then

they start to experience things. And if you guys had some kind of sensation, they're like, how would you describe that to someone? That's where the phrase third eye comes from. So third eye is like, a yogi sits down and then explores that sensation. I'm still blurry. Yeah, I know. I don't know why. I am blurry. There. So, and so they try to come up, and then what they do is they do this practice over and over and over and over again. Okay. And so this is what you guys do. If you had a sensation, you need to do this practice every day. And as you do this practice, you'll start to learn more. You'll start to understand more. So the first thing to understand is that before you did the practice, you had no idea what this was.

And your level of understanding... Sorry, I got to move because this is gonna... So you had no idea what it was and you didn't understand anything. And then like, you understand something now. You don't even know what you understand, but it's like night and day. The amount of knowledge or realization

that you've gained is like night and day. And as you continue to practice, you'll start to gain more things that are just as big. You'll start to understand things. You'll start to like figure stuff out. You learn more about yourself. And then as you practice for a long time, then like this person, is it normal to feel the inside of your brain?

You're going to start to experience things that you normally don't experience. Okay? And then can you have a sense of oneness and high intellect? Absolutely. You can also get all kinds of other sensations. I would say start with three to five minutes a day. Okay? Yeah.

Right? So, like, this is what I love about stream. Someone can ask a question, or if I just sit here and I fucking answer it, after passively meditating as a lifestyle for a long time, is it normal to feel the inside of your brain? And I could answer it. I could say, yeah, but, like, that doesn't help anyone. It doesn't help anyone, right? This is where, like, if you guys want to understand meditation, I can answer questions,

or you guys can just sit and meditate. And then you'll get all the answers yourself. How can you get Shining Gun? You do third eye practice. So this is, I'm going to let you guys in on a little secret. So 16 years ago, I started doing third eye practices and I did them very, very religiously, for lack of a better term. And I'll also let you guys know something else. I'm actually a mediocre psychiatrist.

I'm not actually a very good psychiatrist. The reason I think I can do what I do on stream is because I do third eye meditation. So I think it gives me an advantage over my colleagues. right? Like, you guys just think about this. Like, who can come on stream and just, like, talk to someone for 45 minutes? And, and, like, understand them. And everyone thinks it's because I'm a Harvard, Andy.

But it's not a Harvard. It's because I do, like, honestly, I believe it's because I do third-eye practices. I think it helps me understand people. That's part of the reason, because I started seeing things about people that, like, my other people didn't see, and I got curious about it. yeah and so I think as you guys start to meditate and there's some preliminary evidence of this that meditation does improve EQ right and improves emotional quotient and all of this like like so like how does that work so there's some neuroscientific I'm sure there's something going on like I don't

think I have like a mystical power although you can talk about that kind of stuff I think all these things that people talk about in terms of like mystical powers have neuroscience correlates So if you do heart chakra at meditation, your capacity for compassion increases. I'm actually like not a super compassionate person. And I just, I do a lot of meditation practices around understanding because I want to understand. That's what I care about. Okay?

All right. I'm genuinely interested in meditation and I've tried some of the pointers that you've given in the past, but I don't know if I'm doing it wrong or not mostly because I don't know what indicates that I'm doing it right. Okay. So the first thing is you don't have to feel. So some of Twitch chat felt something, right? And this is like the first time I taught this practice,

I think the best description that someone came up with is it feels like I'm charging my laser beam. You're charging up your laser beam. So the first thing to understand is that just because you do a practice and you don't feel something mystical or spiritual doesn't mean that you're doing it wrong. Okay. What we're shooting for is not necessarily spiritual experience because that's not a good reason to practice. the most basic reason to meditate is to control your attention. And if you can keep your attention focused on one thing for a prolonged period of time,

then that's really the goal. And even if you can't keep it focused on one thing, then you're still actually doing a good job because if you do a practice, like let's say I'm telling you guys to concentrate on your forehead and my mind starts to wander. And then what happens is I remember and I'm like, oh, I'm supposed to be concentrating on the forehead. so I bring the mind back. That's like doing a push-up. The mind wanders, and I bring it back.

The mind wanders, and I bring it back. The mind wanders, and I bring it back. So even if you can't keep your attention focused, every time you bring the mind back to what you want it to, you're practicing controlling your attention. It's like doing one push-up. And so, oddly enough, even people who don't think that they're meditating properly

because their mind wanders a lot, they're the ones who are actually like working out the most because you're like bringing it back, you're bringing it back, you're bringing it back. And eventually you'll get good at keeping it there. So ideally you'll have some kind of weird like psychospiritual experience, which is like cool and trippy. But at the end of the day, what you're trying to train is your attention. The other thing to think about is if you've entered a no mind state, like if your mind kind of shuts off, you're not asleep but you're aware and like time seems to cease to exist thought seem to cease to exist that's what you're shooting for as well so that's really what you're going for is concentration of attention and entering no mind states the spiritual stuff is like unreliable um next question what's a good

meditation practice that doesn't involve focusing on the sensation of breathing the one that i just taught go back and watch the vaude so focusing on your third eye is good um you can focus on meditations on sound if you want to, so you can do chanting. I guess technically, I mean, that involves breathing, but, you know, so I'd say third eye practice is good. Yoga is also an excellent form of meditation. So if you guys do yoga and you don't like breath meditations, that's fine. If you guys want to do another practice, a hard practice, this is one that I've taught before, it's catch the moment of sleep. So this is a different brand of practice. This is like an investigatory practice. And for some people who don't

like to just do something, there's another kind of practice that you can give them where they have to figure something out. Like Gork is one of these people where he's going to respond really well to investigative practices. So if I give Gork a meditation practice in order for him to focus his mind, he's going to respond well if I tell him to figure something out, to pay attention to himself and tell me what he discovers. Because that's going to restrain his attention. And he's going to like, look, because he likes to be good. So I would say that I would say that

catch the moment of sleep if you guys want a hard one. So you're laying down, you close your eyes and you're awake, you're awake, you're awake, you're awake, and then you fall asleep, right? There's a moment you're awake and there's a moment you're asleep. So catch that transition

where you feel yourself falling to sleep and find the precise moment of sleep. Everyone's asking, that's a paradox. Is that even possible? What if I were to tell you guys that like if you hover your finger over your forehead, you'll start to feel like a warm sensation or a trickling or a vibration or energy, sounds the same, right? So this is the thing. This is the whole reason I'm giving you guys this practice.

Because everyone in this world right now is hyperly analytical. We use our minds and our logic and our reasoning to figure out everything. So what I'm trying to teach you guys is experience. That's what Gork needs, right? That's what you guys need. If you want to change, it starts with experience. So don't tell me it's a paradox. Go and try it again and try it again and try it again and try it again and try it again.

Then you'll learn. Then you'll understand. Then you'll see. Okay, so one saying, I tried that as a kid. Shit is impossible. Huh. I wonder what else was impossible when you were a kid. Do you think that if something is impossible when you're a kid, it remains impossible for the rest of your life?

Do you think that maybe something changes as you get older? Hmm. Nah, you tried it as a kid. I'm sure nothing will change. So you might as well not try it. Yeah, like, you know, when I was 13, I asked this girl out and she said no. So I might as well never ask anyone out again because I had acne. and I didn't know how to

I tried to do surgery once I remember they're like you know like this is actually no longer funny but you know if someone around you is like dying when you're a kid and you tried to say their life and it didn't succeed it's like I tried that once as a kid

and it didn't work right? So yeah so like you try it as a kid? Try it again. If it didn't work as an adult, try it again. Try, try. Okay. So here's the no-fap question.

So someone is asking about Brahmacharya. So I saw this question on brahmacharya and I decided to table the no-fap question. So brahmacharya is a Sanskrit word that's usually translated as celibacy. But it doesn't truly mean celibacy. So brahmacharya is like a lot of people think it means celibacy. Because in other religions there's a word for celibacy. There's really not a good translation for Brahman in English. The closest thing is celibacy. What Brahmacharya really means is to dwell in Brahma. So to dwell in the infinite consciousness. And so what Brahmacharya really means as it relates to sex is non-lustfulness. So it means keeping your mind in a state where you don't have lust. So it actually, someone can

be a brahmachari and still have sex, according to my interpretation. It's just you can't be lustful. So brahmacharya, a lot of spiritual strength in a lot of traditions comes from Bromacharya, that's why, like, if you look at, like, many religions have kind of celibacy as a part of their spiritual path. You know, so, I mean, I think that there's a lot that comes from that. I mean, there's some theories about, you know, if you think about, like, the life-creating force of semen is, like, an energy that we expend when, like, that's the capacity to create life. I'm not saying any of this is right or wrong. I'm just sharing with you guys a particular view. So that, like, you know, like, you know, like, men,

for example, so we have the capacity to create new life through semen. And then, so if we think about like brahmacharya, if you stop like sending that energy out, then it stays within you and then you kind of like can become spiritually powerful as a result. I'm not saying that that's right or wrong or indifferent, but that's the idea behind brahmacharya. And I think that, you know, focusing your mind outside of lust can be very helpful because you can focus it on other things. So, okay, so then the question, now we go to the no-fap question, right? Someone is asking, like, what do I think about no-fap? So let me think about what is no-fap. Can't find the no-fap. Anyway, someone was asking about no-fap. Okay. So here's what I think

about no-fap. So I think, like, you have to understand that as a human being, you're controlled, like your behavior is controlled by all kinds of things. And generally speaking, the basic problem that a lot of people have is that they have like intentions and their ability to make their intention or reality is like weak. So if you put your mind to something,

it doesn't get done. That's the basic problem. So I think the biggest advantage of NOFAP is it gives you a chance to grapple with that part of your mind which wants to do something. It gives you a chance to conquer your mind. It gives you a chance to fight with your mind. So if we were thinking about Gork's interview, you know, like he has these forces within him which drive him to do things, like the sense of inadequacy, the anger towards

himself. And those forces control him. So I think the biggest advantage of NOFAP is that it gives you a chance to understand how you work. Where does the desire to jerk off come from? what does it gravitate towards? Like, does it gravitate towards pornography? But, like, is it the porn that creates the desire? Or is the porn a satisfaction of the desire? Right? So if we think about, like, if I'm hungry and I want to eat a hamburger,

the desire to eat the hamburger in the hunger or independent things. So with no fat, you know, like, I think it's useful because you start to ask yourself these questions. You're like, where does the desire to jerk off come from? what do I do with that desire? How do I feel afterward? I think it can be a good example of something that you can explore to help yourself understand how you function as a human being. As far as the health benefits and stuff, I honestly don't know. Like, I haven't looked at any data that really suggests, you know, like what kind of physical or mental health benefits happen with masturbation or lack of masturbation. What I do know is that generally speaking, like masturbation is a relatively normal,

like medically is like viewed as a relatively normal part of, you know, human behavior. Is this for boys only? No. So, I mean, when I say jerk off, sorry, you know, I should say masturbate, but it applies to women, too. Okay. So what is Kundalini? So here's another question. So let me just actually ask.

So we're going to talk about Kundalini Shakti in a second. So what's happening? Are we getting rated? No, you don't have to be an interview to... I mean, you don't have to be a streamer to interview. Most, like, 90% of people that we interview are not streamers. Or maybe that's not that high. Maybe it's like 75% or 80%.

But I want to say like three out of four people that we interview are not streamers. Yeah, so thanks for the raid. Who rated us? X Calibri? Thank you. Do you guys have... Does this person have a question?

CX Boggers. Thank you. Thanks for the raid. Welcome to the Healthy Gamer Stream. My name is Alokinoja. I'm a psychiatrist. And what I do on this stream is not actually dispense medical advice. And you guys came in at a weird time because so we talk a lot about mental health and

helping people understand how they work, how their minds work. I interview people on this stream, people who are struggling in some way and try to give them an insight into like how they can move forward. in their life. We talk a lot about meditation. And if you guys just joined the stream, it was weird. We don't usually talk about sexual stuff, but someone had asked about celibacy in the context of meditation. And there was another question about no fat and what I thought about that. So I was kind of explaining like how celibacy works from an Eastern spiritual tradition and then doing, you know, talking a little bit about masturbation because there's a question about no fat.

So I do a Q&A and we do a lot of meditation on stream and things like. that. So what is Kundalini? So Kundalini is this, so there's this idea that we have the spiritual energy that's seated at the base of our spine. And the imagery for Kundalini is like a serpent that's coiled. And as you do spiritual practice, the Kundalini Shakti, Shakti means energy, starts to rise along the back of your spine. It goes through your different chakras. As it goes through a chakra, it activates a chakra, and when it reaches the top of your head, you become enlightened. That's the basic idea behind kundalini yoga. Kundalini yoga is about sort of developing and harnessing different kinds of energy.

So the third eye practice that we were doing earlier is a kundalini practice. I really like kundalini yoga because I get to feel cool things when I do it, and I just, I like the way, yeah, it's cool. I feel like I gain a lot from it. But Kundalini yoga and meditation should really only be practiced under the guidance of a guru and can be one of the things that can be very dangerous. So I don't think a lot of people realize this, but meditation can be dangerous. There are actually case reports of meditation-induced psychosis,

so people going crazy from meditating. And we're going to be reached to search andy again. Okay. So meditation is dangerous, so you should be careful. and one of the and I think Kundalini Yoga is a good example of stuff that like you have to be careful about

so is chakra real though so in Naruto they refer to chakra but what I think they really mean is like chi or brahna that's like they're not using the right word they're like garbling the lingo a chakra is actually like a gate that chi or brahna travels through Okay, Naruto Pog.

Yeah, absolutely. The tune-in exam is fantastic, man. Tune-in exam is some of the best anime I've ever seen. Really good. Paul's out after that, in my opinion. Yeah, you guys don't think... Yeah, I know some stuff about thund-throhut. I do some thund-throat practices.

So, yeah, like... So I don't think you guys understand who y'all are dealing with, right? All you guys see is the research handy. You guys don't see the Naruto, Andy. And, yeah, Rockley, he's the guy with the weird hair, right? Seminole, Kung Fu, and Semen retention? No idea, man. I don't know what that is.

Okay. Let's do, so we're going to do like 10 or 15 more minutes, and then I've got to stop because I got to work tomorrow. So let's see. Okay, let's go to procrastination, expectations, committing to long term. Okay. So how do I stop procrastinating? My life is in ruins because of it. Okay. So the first thing to understand is that, so a lot of times when we talk on stream, I try to explain to people that like the things that they think are wrong with them are actually like right. Right. So procrastination, you guys have to understand this. Procrastination is not a problem. It's a solution. So let's just define procrastination for a second. What does procrastination mean? procrastination is waiting until the last minute to get things done.

Right? It's like doing a half-ass job with like too little time at the end. So, but if you think about it, like procrastination is actually an incredibly efficient way of going about doing things. Because let me just think about this. Let's just think about this for a second. So if I have the option of like studying hard every day and getting an Aon test or I can cram the weekend before the test and get a B. Like, which one do you think is actually more efficient?

Like, your brain is like, okay, we could do all this work for an A, or we could do like a third of the work for a B. Let's just do the B, right? Or the C. Like, let's just pass, man. So procrastination is actually a very, very efficient way to move through life. Your brain is kind of telling you, like, I don't have to worry about that now. Why don't I just worry about it when it matters? And instead of that, like, I'm just going to do what matters now.

Like, I can play, like, I could, either two ways that I can do this. I can work on this project every day. Or I can wait until the weekend and just play World of Warcraft or Overwatch or Dota today. Like, that's the better route. So the cool thing about procrastination, so that, like, this is how I dealt with my procrastination, is that I stopped fighting against it, and I started doing it more. So if you guys are stuck in procrastination, what you need to do is procrastinate more, not less.

And let's just think a little bit about what that means. I don't mean, like, wait until, like, closer and closer to the end. What I'm saying is have more things to procrastinate about. So if you only require, if it doesn't take you, like, instead of studying for one week for a test, if you only need to study for one weekend, instead of taking one class, what you need to do is take three classes. Because every three days, you can study for a test. So you need to increase the amount of work that you do. And make it so that every day is the last day before something. Make it so that every day, it's like something is due the next day. So I'll give you guys an example for my own life.

I'm telling you, it's fucking crazy. So my second year of college, I was taking half a normal course load. So I went to the University of Texas at Austin, and a normal course load is 15 hours. Okay? So my sophomore year, I took nine, between six and nine hours, and I got like C's, C's basically. And I was thinking like, okay, if I have a lighter course load, I can do better, right? And then like my last year of college, instead of taking the 15 hours, I took 30 or 28, one of the two. and I was a research assistant and I studied for the MCAT and took the MCAT

and was a and was doing research. So I was like a TA and I was doing research. And like you guys may think like oh my God, that's terrible. And this is important. So you guys think I'm wicked smart, right? But that's actually not true.

It's actually not true. The difference is that like I just couldn't procrastinate. Like I had no choice. No, I'm not a fucking genius. This is important. You guys, so this is, listen to what you're doing, right? You guys are answering with logic instead of experience.

You're doing it again. You're doing it again. This is wrong. So what I realized is that I'm not going to study before like the weekend before the test. And now, I would have been a genius if I got a 4.0. Like my GPA was like a 3.0. I ended up getting a B in just about all my classes. And that, that's the thing, right?

Like, if you guys are waiting until the last minute, just do more shit. Like, that's the solution to procrastinating. Don't stop procrastinating. The problem is that you guys don't have enough deadlines. Like, understand this. Procrastination is waiting until the deadline to do it. So set yourself up with a deadline every three days. Actually try it.

Actually try it. And then get back to me. Now, a lot of people are saying, oh, like, it's so stressful. You're damn right. It's stressful. But are we talking about stress? are we talking about productivity? Are we talking about getting stuff done or having an easy life?

Let's be clear. I'm not saying that your life isn't going to be stressful. I'm not saying that it's going to be comfortable. I'm not talking about that at all. I'm talking about productivity. Production. How much you accomplish in a short amount of time? Ah, so someone asks a beautiful question.

What if I have four deadlines in three days? So let me ask you guys, what has actually happened when you guys are fucking procrastinating and you have four deadlines and if you finals week, right? Like, what do you do for finals week? You don't actually wait until the day before. Even your procrastinating fucking brain will start studying like a week in advance. Because you have, you know that, well, if you guys are not showing up, like I did that too. Like I didn't show up for my Spanish final, my freshman year.

But as you start to procrastinate more and more. As you pile on stuff, you'll be surprised. Try it and see what happens. So, and if you guys are feeling like overwhelmed and stuff and you don't show up, I think there are different problems to that. I don't think it's the reason for, I don't think it's the reason that you, I don't think it's procrastination that causes you to not show up. But I do think that one of the simplest solutions to procrastination is to actually stagger your deadlines more and to do more. and then you'll automatically become more productive. So if depression and stuff like that are involved, if not showing up is involved, if shame is involved, like that's the reason I didn't show up to my Spanish final. It's not because I procrastinate. It's because I was ashamed. There are other reasons why you don't show up to finals.

And I would just, I'd say try it. So if you procrastinate, this is what I would concretely recommend that you do. You try doing 50% more. Try doing 50% more and see what happens. Okay. Next question. Last question. How do I let go of expectations so I don't set myself up for disappointment? Okay, great question. So understand that depression comes, sorry, disappointment comes from expectation. There can be no disappointment without expectation, right? If someone tells me like, oh, this movie is super awesome, this game is super awesome,

and it gets pumped up a lot and then I go and play it, I'm going to be disappointed. Yeah, procrastinate those expectations, absolutely. So here's what I do. So remember that expectations are about outcomes. Right? So an expectation is like an outcome. So like I want to get an A in a class. I want to ask this person out and I want them to say yes.

That's what an expectation is. It's an outcome. So the way that you free yourself from expectations and the other thing to understand about expectations is that they were in no man sky. Damn right. You want to talk about expectations? No man sky. Yeah. But so people can say expect nothing.

How do you practically do that? You can't just say like, okay, I'm going to wake up and expect nothing. No, it doesn't work with that. So the other thing to understand is that expectation is about the future, right? You can't have expectations about the present. Literally impossible. Expectation is about the future. So how do you get past expectation?

Someone saying, expect the worst? No. You focus on action, not on outcome. You focus on doing, not getting. because you can't stop your mind from doing something, but you can change your mind's direction. Right? The way that we meditate,

the goal of meditation is to clear our mind, but you can't tell your mind to be clear. You have to focus it on something, and then the clarity comes. So the way that you get away from expectation is by focusing on action. So I want to get an A in the class. How can we reframe that to an action?

I'm going to go to class every day, and I'm going to study for an hour every day. That's an action. It's not about an A, it's about doing. And even then, that's an expectation, right? Because I say every day. So every day is about the future. That's expectation. You're sending yourself up for an expectation.

So you can't study, you can't go to class every day. It is literally impossible to go to class every day. It is not possible. You can only go to class today. You can only study now, right? Action can only take place in the present. Action cannot take place in the future. Can only take place in the present.

And so what you need to do is focus on today. Go to class today. Study for an hour today. You can't even study for an hour. That's in the future. What you can do is go to the library. You can get up right now. You can walk away from the stream.

And then you can go to the library. And as you go to the library, you can sit down, you can open the book, and you can start to read. You can do that. You can't study for an hour. You can't study for a year. You can't study for a decade. You can only study now.

And the more that you focus on... Yeah, adios, because we're going to be shutting off soon. So the more that you focus on the action, the more that you focus on the present, the more impossible it becomes to have an expectation. The strategy is not to let go of expectations. The strategy is to make it impossible to have an expectation. And the way that you make it impossible to have an expectation

is to live in the present, to exist in the present, to focus on action instead of outcome. You can't lose 50 pounds. It's impossible to lose 50 pounds. You can go to the gym today. I can do a push-up today. Right? You can only focus on the present. So remember that. Life-changing decisions can be hard, or they can be flexible, inclusive, and best of all, rewarding. Earn your master's in computer science, data science, or information systems at Northeastern University in the San Francisco Bay Area. No matter your experience, earn your degree. Plus, the desirable Bay Area is a smaller collaborative campus, but connected to the huge Northeastern University.

Discover the different technology degrees available. Visit northeastern.edu slash pathways to tech. Become an educational leader with the University of Washington College of Education. The UW College of Education prepares students to solve the toughest problems of today. Within one year of graduation, over 94% of graduate students are employed as leaders of organizations such as the Fred Hutch Cancer Research Center, Microsoft, and universities across the country. Tap the banner to learn more about the College of Education or visit education.u.u.org.